28 DEEr-SEA FISHING. 



The observations referred to by Professor Hnxley 

 were apparently those made by Professor G. 0. Sars 

 of the Christiania University, tlie son and, we beheve, 

 successor in the Chair of Natural History, of the late 

 Professor Sars,^ whose name is held in reverence by 

 every worker in marine zoology. The inquiry is still 

 in progress, and the seas around the Loffoden Islands 

 have been visited on several occasions for the purpose 

 of making the requisite observations. Reports have 

 been published from time to time, but tbey are in 

 the Norse language, and their contents unfortunately 

 inaccessible to most persons in this country. Professor 

 Gr. 0. Sars has, however, been good enough to com- 

 municate to US some of the more interesting results 

 of his work, and we gladly take this opportunity of 

 acknowledging his courtesy in furnishing the desired 

 information in English for our use in these pages. 



The following are some of the facts he has recorded : 

 In 1864 he obtained by means of his surface-net — 

 apparently the same kind of apparatus as is commonly 

 used by naturalists for collecting minute floating forms 

 of marine life — the ova of the common cod {Gadus 

 viorrhua) floating at the surface ; examples in various 

 stages of development were procured, the young flsh 

 hatched out, and the species identified beyond a doubt. 

 In 18 05 the same observations were made on the ova 

 of the haddock {Gadus ooglefinus), and it was satisfjic- 

 torily determined that they went through all their 



1 'Jlie late Professor Edward Forbes Bpokc of this eminent Norwegian 

 naturalist as "a philosopher who, pursuing his researches far away from the 

 world, buried among the grand solitudes of his magnificent country, where tlie 

 jnu'suit of science is his recreation, and the holy oflices of religion his sacred 

 duty, has nevertheless gained name and fame wherever the study of nature is 

 followed. The unpretending writings of this parish priest have become models 

 for the essays of learned professors in foreign lands, and his discoveries the texts 

 of long commentaries by experienced physiologists." — British Nukcd-eyed 

 Medusa', p. 55 (Hay Pociely, 1848). 



